National Unions Demand Release of Detained Immigrant Workers

“We have to take actions where we can show that we can win and that help overcome people’s fear.”

By Natascha Elena Uhlmann April 9, 2025


Protesters with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and community members rally to denounce the Trump administration's recent attacks on free speech and immigrant rights. Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Ten national unions and dozens of locals representing more than 3 million members have issued a joint statement demanding the release of immigrant workers recently snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The statement names farmworker union leader Alfredo ​“Lelo” Juarez, who was picked up in what appears to be blatant retaliation for his organizing; SEIU Local 925 member Lewelyn Dixon, a University of Washington lab technician detained on her way home from visiting family; SEIU Local 509 member Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student whose detention by federal agents was captured in chilling footage; sheet metal worker Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a SMART Local 100 apprentice who was sent to El Salvador’s notorious prison complex; and United Auto Workers Local 2710 member Mahmoud Khalil, abducted by federal agents in front of his eight-months-pregnant wife.

The unions are also calling on employers, university administrators and local governments to refuse to cooperate — and demanding that elected officials ​“find their spines.”

Trump is reprising tactics from other times in U.S. history when ​“the government was actively suppressing protest and dissent,” said Carl Rosen, president of the United Electrical Workers (UE).

FULL story: https://inthesetimes.com/article/national-unions-resist-trump-detention